MUSIC AT THE

ARAGONESE COURT OF
NAPLES

Allan W. Atlas

The nght ·~f the

Umrt'f.l'ill' of Cambrulgc
111 fir/Ill and 1cll
ullmann('f ojh1mf....1
U'U\' grun/! •d hy
l/ ,•,Jfl' Vltl in 1534.
Tlw Unil't'f.\"11)' hw (lrinl<'rl
und p11hlish"rl I'OIIIIIwou•J.r
Wll'< ' f58.f.

Cambridge University Press

Cambridge
London New York New Rochelle
Melbourne Sydney

mu seo inter!1oz io nale

e b ibliote.:a ddl.2 mus ic a
di bolc g na
82 Music at the Aragonese Court of Naples Composers and Other 'Illustrissimi' 83
works only two can be safely assigned to Naples, the hymns Hostis Herodis impie sing and play the lute. Although his studies with Guarnerius could not have lasted
and Christe Redemptor omnium, Ex Patre Patris, both of which are unique to the very long -the Flemish musician was back at the papal chapel by the Spring of
Neapolitan manuscript Montecassino 8 71 and are the only hymn settings by 1479 at the latest (see note 125)- Calmeta tells us that he made such remarkable
Gaffurius that use chants of the Roman, rather than of the Ambrosian, rite. 123 progress that 'a ciascuno altro musico italiano nel componere canti tolse la
In the edition, Gaffurius is represented by Christe Redemptor omnium (No. 7). palma'. Serafino remained at Naples until 1481, when, upon the death of his
father, he returned to Aquila. A second encounter with Neapolitan culture began
Guillelmus Guarnerius. One of the more shadowy figures of the late fifteenth in 1487, when Serafino accompanied his patron, Ascanio Sforza, to Milan. 129
century, Guarnerius- singer, teacher, 124 and, according to Gaffurius, composer- There he joined the circle oflsabella d' Aragona, wife of Gian Galeazzo Sforza, and
was at Naples from mid-1476 at the earliest to the spring of 1479 at the Jatest. 125 met the Neapolitan courtier Andrea Cossa, who, according to Calmeta, introduced
Although Melaguli records that Guarnerius engaged in conversations concerning Serafino to the strambotti ofBenedetto Gareth. 13 ° Finally, Serafino made a second
music theory with Tinctoris, Gaffurius, and Ycart, and though it may have been at journey to Naples at the end of 1491. He stayed there for three years, playing an
Naples that Guarnerius composed his now-lost Missa Moro perche non dai fede active role in Pontano's academy and leaving the city only in mid-1494, when he
(attributed to him by Gaffurius), which was no doubt based on pre-existent traveled north with Ferrandino, who was preparing to meet the approaching
material from Cornago's secular work of that name, Guarnerius's association with forces of Charles VIII. 131 In compliance with a request from Elizabeth Gonzaga,
the court is probably best remembered for his having instructed Serafino Ferrandino left the poet at Urbino, from whence he proceeded to Mantua. Though
dall' Aquila in music. That Guarnerius must certainly have impressed Gaffurius at Serafino was invited to return to Naples upon the restoration of the Aragonese late
Naples is attested by the famous theorist's reference to him as both being an in 149 5, 132 he never did return to the city whose cultural ambience so markedly
'optimus contrapunctista' and standing among the 'peretissimi' of the science of influenced him.
music. 126 Obviously, the inclusion of Serafino in the present survey of composers and
theorists presupposes that Serafino was indeed a composer, and not merely a poet-
Serajino dall'Aquila. Although the court was host to a number of famous poet- improvisator. Quite aside from the difficulty of drawing a line between improviser
improvisators - among them Benedetto Gareth and Aurelio Brandolini - none on the one hand and composer on the other, that Serafino may have composed in
came to enjoy such widespread fame as did Serafino de' Ciminelli dall' Aquila. 127 the traditional sense of the term is suggested not only by his studies with
Born on 6 January 1466, Serafino first came to Naples in 14 78, when he entered Guarnerius, but also by a letter recently discovered by Lowinsky. The letter, from a
the service of Antonio de Guevara, Count of Potenza, as a page. 128 There the Frater Christophorus to an official in the Sforza chancery, is dated 4 November
twelve-year-old boy studied music with 'Guglielmo fiammengo . . . musico 1490 and begins: 'Si Seraphino poeta ha vera ancora facto cosa nova usaro omne
famosissimo' (who is generally identified as Guillelmus Guarnerius), Iea'rning to diligentia per haverla notata et le parole ... ' 133 Though Serafino may have lacked
12
the compositional skills necessary to have written the polyphonic Credo attributed
'See Pope and Kanazawa, The Musical '
27
On Serafino's importance as a poet for the to a Seraph in us in the manuscript Perugia 431 (No. 4 in our edition), he probably
Manuscript Montecassirw 871, 31- 32 . early frottola, see Rubsamen, Literary Sources of
1
, . Aside from his having instructed the poet
could have composed the entire polyphonic fabric that sets his strambotto Sufferir
Secular Music in ltaly (ea . 1500), pp. 12- 19;
Serafino dall 'Aquila in music (see below). Giazotto, 'Onde musicali nella corrente poetica di so disposto, the poem- and presumably the music- by which he is represented in
Guarnerius taught at the Collegio degli Serafino dali'Aquila', pp. 3ff. On his association our edition (No. 14).134
lnnocenti. the school for choirboys that was at- with Josquin, see Helmuth Osthoff, ]osquin
tached to the ducal chapel at the court of Savoy. Desprez , I!, 32ff: Lowinsky, 'Ascanio Sforza's
from at least 1 February to 19 June 1473; see Life ', pp. 5 1ff. Florentius de Faxolis and ]osquin des Prez (?). In 1480, as a result of some poorly
Bouquet. 'La cappella musicale dei duchi di 2
' ' The main source of biographical informa- conceived political machinations, Ascanio Sforza was sent into exile from Milan.
Savoia ', p. 266. tion on Sera lino is the contemporary account by
125
His sojourn at Naples is framed by periods of Vincenzo Collo ('il Calmeta'). The biography, 129
Bauer-Formiconi, op. cit., p. 13, gives the in particular - does not seem likely.
service in the papal chapel. He is recorded at which is entitled Vita del facondo poeta vulgare date as 1489; for the correction. see Lowinsky, 131
As Lowinsky, 'Ascanio Sforza's Life', pp.
Rome from September 14 74 through April1476, Serafirro Aquilarro, was first printed at Bologna in 'Ascanio Sforza's Life', p. 51. 51-52 , points out, josquin scholarship has long
at which time there is a break in the Roman 1 504 and subsequently appeared in various edi- "
0
It seems unlikely, however, that this was erred in placing Serafino in Ascanio's retinue in
records, and then again from sometime in the tions of Serafino's works. For a modern edition, Serafino's first meeting with Gareth's work. The 1491- 1493.
first half of 1479 through March 1483: see see Grayson, Vincenzo Calmeta: Prose e lettere edite Spanish poet had arrived at the court of Naples in 112
See Bauer-Formiconi, Die StrambotU des
Haberl , 'Die ri:imische "Schola cantorum" ·. pp. e irredite, pp. xxx, 60- 63: Menghini. Le rime di 1467 or 1468, and there can be little doubt that Serajino dall 'Aqui/a, p. 21.
231-41. Serajino de' Ciminelli dali'Aquila , pp. 1-15. A Serafino came to know his poetry during his stay ' " Lowinsky, 'Ascanio Sforza's Life', pp. 52-
1 26
In the Tractatus practicabilium proportiorwm thorough biography appears in Bauer-Formiconi, at Naples in 14 78-1480. Even a literal reading of 53.
(Bologna A 69, fol. 20v): see Miller, 'Early Die Strambotti des Serajirw da/I'Aquila. pp. llff. Calmeta - that is, that it was at Milan that '
34
On Serafino's musical accomplishments,
Gaffuriana', pp. 3 78-79. Serafino first came to know Gareth's strambotti see ibid., p. 53.
84 Music at the Aragonese Court of Naples
After pausing first at Ferrara, he continued on to Naples where he spent all of 1481
and most of 1482. Among those who followed Ascanio to Naples were the poet-
physician Pietro Giannetti, the music theorist Florentius de Faxolis, and- perhaps
- Josquin des Prez. 135 There is proof of Florentius's presence at Naples, for the
'Prooernium' of his Liber musices, written expressly for Ascanio, contains the
following statement: 'ac fueram cum Neapoli Romaeque tecum una essemus' .136
The theorist, then, had accompanied his patron to Naples and Rome. Although
Florentius did not write the Liber musices at Naples, the treatise may contain an
interesting Neapolitan connection, one that might possibly not have appeared had
Florentius not visited the city. Among the 'moderniores' upon whom Florentius
draws - and Tinctoris is conspicuously absent - there is an obscure 'Abbas
populeti sive Magister Blasius'. Who is this abbot? In the marginal notes made at
the beginning of the manuscript by the eighteenth-century bibliophile Carlo
Trivulzi, 137 who purchased the treatise in 1775, he is identified as Blasio Romero,
abbot of the monastery of Santa Maria del Popolo at Naples during the latter part of
the fifteenth century. 13 8 Now, though we can do no more than speculate, perhaps
the abbot can be identified as the Bias Romero who is recorded as a singer in
Alfonso's chapel on 2 7 February 1451. If both Trivulzio's identification and our
speculation are correct, it seems likely that Florentius came to know the obscure
abbot's views on music while he was at Naples with Ascanio.
The case for Josquin's presence at Naples is completely speculative, and there is
in fact no hard documentary evidence for such a sojourn. Nor does Lowinsky insist
that Josquin was part of Ascanio's retinue there; rather, he writes: 'If a poet-
physician like Giannetti and a modest and obscure musician-priest like Florentius
were then in Ascanio's train, the likelihood of Josquin's being with him looms
larger.' 139 To this I can add but a single piece of information that has hitherto been
overlooked. Indeed, it was not until Lowinsky even raised the possibility of
Josquin's having followed Ascanio to Naples that its possible relevance for Josquin
became apparent. There is in the Neapolitan manuscript Bologna Q 16 an unicum
whose text incipit reads ]e ne demano de vos (No. 17 in our edition). What is
interesting is that this is the only piece in the manuscript for which the scribe
entered an ascription: 'J.P.' Until now, the only composers with matching initials
whose possible claims to the piece have been considered are Jehan Pullois and
Johannes Prioris, but a stylistic analysis of the work shows that authorship by
Composers and Other 'Illustrissimi' 85
time to throw still another name into the ring: Josquin des Prez (the initials perhaps
standing for Jodocus Pratensis). And though the piece clearly lacks the stamp of
Josquin's customary genius, there is nothing- notwithstanding its dullness- that
definitely rules out his having composed it, especially as the work would probably
date from the hypothetical sojourn at Naples in the early 1480s (the main section
of Bologna Q 16 was completed by 148 7) 141 and does not seem to have been
written for any very special event. We have, then, the following circumstances:
Ascanio's presence at Naples; the inclusion of the musician Florentius in his
retinue; the appearance of a work that bears an attribution to a 'J.P.' and that is
unique to a source compiled at Naples not more than a few years after Ascanio was
in that city (as the only ascription in the source, it may well have had special
significance); the possibility that Josquin was in Ascanio's service; and no docu-
mentation that places the composer elsewhere in 1481-1482. To be sure, the
evidence is clearly insufficient to make a case either for Josquin's having been at
Naples or for his having composed ]e ne demano, but neither should those
conjectures be altogether forsaken. 142
Alexander Agricola. As I have shown in detail elsewhere, 14 3 Agricola's presence at
Naples in May-June 14'12 and Ferrante's unsuccessful attempt to hire him-
behind the back of Charles VIII- at an annual salary of 300 ducats are attested by
a series of six letters: (1) 13 May 1492, Piero de' Medici to Niccolo Michelozzi at
Naples- Agricola is at Naples and should return to Florence in order that he may
continue on to France, where Charles VIII is waiting for him; (2) 13 June 1492,
Ferrante to Charles VIII- having been at Naples, where the court admired his
talent, Agricola is now on his way back to France, and Ferrante asks Charles to
consider permitting him to return to Naples; (3) 11 February 1493, Ferrante to
Giovanni Battista Coppola, Neapolitan ambassador to the French court- Coppola
should speak to Agricola and convey to him Ferrante's offer of 300 ducats per year
if he is willing to serve the Aragonese court; (4-6) 12 June, 12 August, and 4
September 149 3, all Ferrante to Coppola- Ferrante has changed his mind owing
conclusion finds a second in Wexler, 'Prioris, firm stance in the New Grove work list. did omit
Johannes', The New Grove, XV, 2 76, where, how- the two works from his edition of the composer).
ever, it is noted that Prioris is supposed to have ,., See Chap. VI. p. 121.
composed a now lost - or at least unidentifiable - 142 One other possibility is that the letters 'JP'

Pullois is well-nigh impossible, while ascription to Prioris is unlikely on the basis of
the pattern in which all his other secular works were disseminated. 140 Thus it is
135
Ibid .. pp. 43. 4 7-48. 51.
136
The most thorough study of the treatise is
Seay, 'The "Liber Musices" of Florentius de
Faxolis' (the quotation appears on pp. 74 and 7 7);
see also Lowinsky, 'Ascanio Sforza's Life', pp. 4 7-
50, where Seay's dating of the treatise is revised
and the work dated from between 1484 and
1492.
117
After whom the Biblioteca Trivulziana at
Milan is named; the manuscript is now housed at
the library under the signature 2146.
138
See Seay, 'The "Liber Musices" ', p. 80 and
n. 15. Since 1519 the monastery has been the
Ospedale di Santa Maria del Popolo degli
Incurabili.
'
39
'Ascanio Sforza's Life', p. 51.
140
This has been shown rather convincingly
in an unpublished seminar paper by Mr. E. Terry
Ford, a doctoral candidate at the City University
of New York. With respect to Prioris, Mr. Ford's
Missa ]e ne demande, something that might ordi-
narily strengthen his claim to the piece. Fuller,
'Additional Notes on the 15th-Century
Chansonnier Bologna Q 16', p. 81, n. 2, claims
that Pullois and Prioris are 'likely candidates'.
Another composer who can certainly be ruled
out on chronological-stylistic grounds is the 'J .P.'
whose initials appear above two virelais in the
manuscript Oxford 213 ; Cattin, 'Johannes de
Quadris', The New Grove, IX, 667, interprets the
initials as '? Johannes Presbyter'. The latter 'J.P.'
has also been interpreted as a reference to Johan-
nes de Quadris himself (Cattin, without taking a
are not initials, but rather an abbreviation of
sorts of a single name. [n that event, perhaps the
ascription refers to Johannes 'Japart', who, on
the basis of the style of the piece. is a more likely
candidate to have written it than is Josquin.
14 3
'Alexander Agricola and Ferrante [ of
·Naples '. where excerpts of the letters cited are
given in the original Italian and in English trans-
lation. The five letters from Naples are printed in
their entirety in Trinchera, Codice aragonese o sia
leltere regie, ordinamenti ed altri alti governati de '
sovrani aragonesi in Napo/i, II, Nos. 13 7. 315. 430,
541. 567.
104 Music at the Aragonese Court of Naples Music for Secular Entertainment 105

coaching the royal family in the art of the dance. No doubt it was during his Madamma Anna cl
Neapolitan sojourn that- assuming the identification, of course - he wrote the Galderi de Madamma Anna xxxiiij
Fra Pietro d'Evoli xxij
arrangement a 2 of the La Spagna melody that bears an ascription to 'M[agister]
Bartolomeo de Pistoja governava la camera de la Musica al
Gulielmus' in the manuscript Perugia 431 (see No. 18 in the edition). And the Castello de Capuana lxxij
likelihood of Neapolitan provenance for the piece is strengthened by the sole Joan della Musica governava la camera della Musica al Castello
concordance for the work, the Neapolitan manuscript Bologna Q 16. novo xxxvj
Finally, as it did at all the great Italian courts, music played an important role in Ministeri et Trombetti
theatrical productions. Of these, the best documented insofar as music is con- [blank]
cerned are the two well-known pieces that were staged in honor of the Spanish Trombetti
victory over the Moors at Granada in 1492 (the kings of Naples and Spain were, [blank] 46
after all, cousins). The first, La presa di granata, afarsa attributed to Sannazaro, was
performed at Castelnuovo on 4 March. The play concluded with 'Letizia cantando, Quite aside from the information that it provides regarding personnel, the roster
accompagnata da tre altre Ninfe, de la quale !'una sonava una suavissima is particularly significant in that it offers confirmation of the existence of a royal
cornamusa,l'altra una violetta ad arco e la terza uno flauto, e con dolce armonia 'camera della musica' that had its own 'governor'. This agrees with the descrip-
se accordavano con la voce e con la viola che sonava. ' 43 After Gaiety concluded tion given by Raffaele Brandolini in his Opusculum de musica etpoetica, 47 where, in
her song, Prince Federico, dressed as the King of Castille, took the center of the discussing music at the court during the period of Ferrante I. he writes that the
floor together with others in the audience and, to the music of the pifferi, danced king 'had not far from his own chambers a certain hall most elegantly furnished
the bassa e l'alta. 44 Two days later, on 6 March, Sannazaro's ll triunfo de la Fama with paintings and sculptures to which he could quickly come and in which no
was performed in Federico's apartments. Now it was Apollo who, following a long instrument that might be sounded with hand, plectrum, or mouth was want-
recitation, 'prese subito una viola e suavissimamente canto certi versi in laude di ing'Y Complementing the 'music chambers' was the royal 'chamber music', an
tal vittoria'. 45 ensemble whose members - consisting of singers, players of string instruments
From the time that it was established in the early 1440s to its demise in 1501 (both plucked and bowed), and keyboard-players- are referred to by Brandolini as
the court supported an impressive array of singers and instrumentalists whose 'cubicularios musicos'. 49 No doubt it is the personnel of this ensemble that appears
primary function was to provide the music for its secular entertainments. And on the roster of 1499. And since a few of the musicians listed can be identified, as
some idea - imprecise though it turns out to be - of the number of secular can members of the group from earlier periods, a discussion of some of the
musicians who were employed at the court at a given time may be gained from chamber musicians is called for.
what appears to be our only integral roster of such musicians, one that dates from The best-known name among those serving Federico in 1499 is that of the
1499, just two years before Federico was deposed: singer Madama Anna, who may be identified with the 'Madama Anna Inglese'
who is recorded at Naples as 'musica del S.R.' first in 1471 and then again in
Nell'anno 1499 14 76, in 1480, and during an unspecified year later in the 1480s. so And though
Soldi, et Provisioni marittime ...
•• Naples, Biblioteca Oratoriana dei Filippini. n. 43, the roster is also preserved in Naples,
Musichi
MS S.M. XXVIII.4.22 part 5, fols. 1SQv-1S1 r. The Biblioteca della Societa Napoletana di Storia
Joan Orosco lxxij document from which the roster is drawn bears Patria, MS XXI.C.22, where it precedes the 'Diarii
Hyeronimo de Manzo lxxij the title 'Copia d'un libretto dove si notano gli di Silvestro Guarino d'Aversa'. I have not been
Petro d'Alano cc offitii, et servituri dell a cas a delli Serenissimi Re di able to consult thls manuscript, and my own
Antonio de Lagona cxx Napoli con le provisioni che se li deva': it was references to Guarino's diary are to the edition by
Alto bello xxxij copied early in the nineteenth century by Pelliccia (see Chap. Il above, n. 163).
Fra Joan Musico [blank] Agostino Gervasio, who in turn drew upon a ., See Chap. Il above, p. 53 and n. 172.
seventeenth-century manuscript that had passed •• Again, l draw on the translation in Perkins
through the libraries of a number of distin- and Garey, Tile Me/Ion Cllansonnier, l, 30.
'
3
See Mauro, Iacobo Sanrwzaro: Opere vo/gare. unci c/arste/Ienc/e Musik. I. 15ff. The barzelletta is guished Neapolitan families - the Petrone. the •• 'In addition to numerous persons in his ser-
p. 282; Croce, I teatri c/i Napoli, seco/o XV-XVIII. conveniently edited in Einstein, op. cit. , I. 36-3 7. Prince of Cimitile. and the Duke of Cassano - vice whom he called "chamber musicians" from
pp. 13-14. Einstein, The Italian Madrigal, I, 35- and Stevenson, Spanish Music in tile Age of Colwu- before it ended up in London, where Gervasio the comfort and solace of voices and strings given
37, attempts to identify Gaiety's song with the bus, p. 248. bought it. I am extremely grateful to Keith in private .. .': see ibid .. I. 30 and 34.
barzelletta Viva e/ Gran Rey Don Femanc/o (that is, 44
Mauro, Iacobo Sannazaro: Opere volgare. p. Larson, who discovered the document in the 50
Galiano, 'Nuove fonti per la storia musicale
Ferdinand the Catholic). which was included in a 285: Croce, I teatri di Napoli. p. 14. Library of the Filippini and was kind enough to napoletana'. p. 5: Van der Straeten, La Musique
drama written by Carlo Verardi and performed at ., Mauro, op. cit. , p. 2 94: Croce. op. cit .. pp. 14- communicate its contents and history to me in a aux Pays-Bas, IV. 131: Pope and Kanazawa, Tile
Rome in horror of the same event. See, however, 16: Einstein. Tile Italian Madrigal, I, 38. letter of 15 April 1983. According to Galiano, Musical Manuscript Montecassino 8 7 I, p. 69, n. 3:
the comments ofWolfgang Osthoff, Tlleatergesang 'Nuove fonti per la storia musicale napoletana', Percopo, Barzellette napoletane, p. 11.
108 Music at the Aragonese Court of Naples Music for Secular Entertainment 109
69
per year, while an Antonio da Venezia had joined the court by February 1456. 70 tates of fifteenth-century Italy often recruited their musical talent, it is no less
Finally, Aniello Palumbo is recorded as a 'suonatore di arpa' in 1486. 71 likely that Ferrante had a much more permanent arrangement in mind. In any
References to specific lutenists at the court of Naples are almost non-existent event, we do not know if Pietrobono ever did return to Naples.
(though some of the harpists may well have doubled on the lute). They are lacking Pietrobono was not the only musician in the Ferrarese delegation that visited
completely in the secondary literature, and I can furnish only one notice from the Naples in 14 7 3. The entourage included Pietrobono 's 'tenorista'. seven trombetti,
material drawn from the archives. On the same day that the harpist Messer Pere two pifferi, two tromboni, an organist, and, according to the 'Lista de la cometiva
received 18 ducats to buy a horse, another Pere, one Pere Puig, 'luytador', was che va a Napuli per la Ill.ma Madona Duchessa de Ferrara', three 'sonadurij de
given 2 5 ducats for the same purpose. 72 Thus even while he was waging war _viola': Andrea, Zampolo, and Rainaldo , all three of whom hailed from Parma. 78 To
against the Angevins, Alfonso was accompanied- by at least a small staff of a certain extent, then, the Ferrarese visitors constituted nothing less than a
musicians who played for his enjoyment as he moved from one camp to another. 73 musical goodwill mission of sorts, like the journey of the Neapolitan royal chapel
Despite the paucity of documentation, neither the court nor Naples as a whole to Florence in 1451. And together with such gifts as the beautifully illuminated
was without its share oflutenists. Not only do the extant Neapolitan lute sources of music manuscripts that one court occasionally bestowed upon another, such trips
the period- with their unique 'tabulatura alia Napoletana' 74 - bear witness to a serve as a reminder of the value that Renaissance diplomacy could place on both
local tradition oflute-playing, but there is also the occasional letter that served as a music and musicians.
purchase order for lute strings. Thus on 1 October 1493, Ferrante wrote to Carlo Still another performer whose role in the secular music of the Aragonese court
de Rogeriis, his ambassador to Venice: must be mentioned is Antoni Tallender, known to his contemporaries as 'Mossen
Noi havimo reciputo uno maze de corde de liuto: le quale non hanno valuto niente: et in dl Borra' (1360-1443). Diplomat, jester, and according to Giovanni Pontano a
passati ne mandastevo un altro mazo multo peio: del quale ve ne mandamo due nerfule che favorite of the Emperor Sigismund, who showered him with silver in appreciation
non servono ad niente: et perche sonno grosse, et negre, che ve le mandamo ad fine le of his talents when he served the Imperial court in 1416-1418, 79 Tallender was
vedate: et cognosciate che non valeno niente: et ve ne mandamo un altra nerfula per almost a permanent fixture at the Aragonese court - mainly at Barcelona, but
mostra, secunda la quale vorriamo ne facessevo cercare, et cell mandassevo, che si non
fossero bone, non le vorriamo. 75 also at Naples in his final years - from the end of the fourteenth century.
Tallender's advanced age when he arrived at Naples circa 1440 (he was still at
Yet regardless of who the court lutenists might have been, it is doubtful that any Barcelona in 1438) probably means that he was more honored than active as a
of them enjoyed the reputation of a non-resident player of the lute, one who was performer, and that his role at Naples may have been purely administrative;
but a short-term visitor to the court: Pietrobono de Burzellis of Ferrara. nonetheless, a document of 1413 in which he is listed as 'mestre de ministres de
Pietrobono, who was also a singer, visited Naples in 1473 as part of the Ferrarese boca de casa del senyor rey' 80 makes it clear that he had in the past performed a
delegation that came to Naples with Sigismondo d'Este in order to escort the true musical function (which has heretofore been disputed). 81 He cannot, how-
Princess Eleonora back to Ferrara as the bride of Ercole d'Este. 76 And that ever, be credited either with the chanson Se Dedalus that appears in the manuscript
Pietrobono's playing made a powerful impression upon the court is attested by a Chantilly 564 or with a three-voice Credo that reaches us in Apt 16 and other
letter of 16 April1476 from Diomede Carafa to Ercole: 'La M. de lo S. Re averia sources. The latter work is by Pierre Tailhandier, the former by either Pierre or
multo piacere la S.V. li lassase per questa state Pierbono vostro sonatore de Leonardus Tailhandier, who is variously described as Antoni's brother or son. 82
77
liuto.' Obviously, Ferrante wished to borrow Pietrobono for a few months during The designation ofMossen Borra as master of the 'ministres de boca' raises the
the coming summer. However, given the underhanded way in which the poten- question of just what kind of minstrels he had been in charge of at Barcelona.
Baldell6 interprets the term as a reference to an instrumentalist, a wind-player,
69
Ibid., V. 7. 75
Trinchera, Codice aragonese, II, 258. The
0
' Minieri Riccio, 'Alcuni fatti di Alfonso I', p. word 'nerfula' is a strange one, and was perhaps 78
Lockwood, 'Pietrobono and the Instrumen- de Arag6n', p. 42.
445. coined by Pontano, who signed the letter. In any
71 tal Tradition at Ferrara'. p. 117. n. 7; Barblan, "'See, for example, Giinther, 'Tailhandier,
Gaetano Filangieri, Documenti, V, 243. event, its derivation from the Latin root 'nerv-', 'Vita musicale alia carte sforzesca'. p. 805. Pierre', The New Grove. XVID. 527.
"ASN, TAP, Vol. IV, fol. 2'. Also recorded on meaning string or wire, and the diminutive '-ula' 79
Pontano, De liberalite, XVII; see the edition 82
On the attribution of these pieces and on the
that same day is the trumpeter Jordi Avinyo. seems evident. The use of 'f for 'v' could reflect by Tateo, Giovanni Pontano: I trattati delle virtu
73 somewhat muddled relationships among the
On the instrumentalists who accompanied local pronunciation. sociali. pp. 31 and 185. On Taliender's service three musicians, see Giinther, 'Tailhandier', p.
Alfonso on his early Italian expeditions, see An- 76
See Lockwood, 'Pietrobono and the Instru- with Sigismund, see Schuler, 'Die Musik in 527; G6mez Muntane, La Mrisica en la Casa Real
gles, 'La Musica en la Carte Real de Arag6n y de mental Tradition at Ferrara', p. 117; Barblan, Konstanz wiihrend des Konzils, 1414-1418', p. Catalano-Aragonesa. p. 102; Angles, Historia de la
Napoles', pp. 971ff. 'Vita musicale alia carte sforzesca'. p. 801. n. l.
74
164. Taliender also performed before John the Musica en Navarra , p. 300; Stiiblein-Harder, Four-
On the manuscripts Pesaro 1144 and Bol- 77
The letter is printed in its entirety in Moores, Fearless in 1418; see Craig Wright, Music at the teenth-Century Mass Music in France: Critical Text,
ogna 596 H.H.2•, see Chap. VI below, pp. 'New Light on Diomede Carafa and his "Perfect Court of Burgundy, p. 102, n . 101. p. 62.
123-24. Loyalty" to Ferrante of Aragon ', pp. 18- 19. 80
Baldeli6, 'La Musica en la Casa de Ios Reyes

museo inte-rnozionale
e b i b!~t..., t r.: :.: ~:: d ell e ~u sica
di bcl lcgna
120 Music at the Aragonese Court of Naples The Music Sources 121

Neapolitan sources of polyphony whose origins at the royal court can be estab- was written is not so easily pinned down; however, since it displays so extraordi-
lished beyond doubt. Though the repertory is still overwhelmingly Franco- narily close a relationship with Montecassino 8 71, it too would appear to be
Burgundian, the Neapolitan character of the manuscript emerges through its monastic in origins, perhaps having been compiled at a Benedictine monastery or
20
works by Tinctoris and Vincenet. Tinctoris is represented by two compositions (as Giulio Cattin has recently suggested) at a Franciscan institution. Both
with Latin texts- 0 virgo, miserere mei (No. 1 in the edition) and Virgo Dei throno manuscripts transmit mixed repertories of secular and sacred music- whereas in
digna- both of which are addressed to Beatrice. 17 Vincenet's presence is recorded Montecassino 8 71 the emphasis in the sacred repertory is on the small-scale forms
21
by all four of his known secular works, which in addition to pieces based on French for the Hours, Perugia 431 contains a large selection of music for the MasS -and
and Italian poems includes a setting of the Castilian La pena sin ser sabida (No. 10 in reflect the wide range of the musical activities and tastes at the Aragonese court
the edition). and its musical-cultural dependents. Among the better-known composers who
1480s: The four manuscripts that were written either entirely or mainly during are represented in the two sources and who are known to have worked at Naples
this decade- Montecassino 871, Perugia 431, Seville 5-I-43/Paris 4379, and are Cornago (No. 10), and Ycart (No. 5). Alongside them is a group of otherwise
Bologna Q 16 1 " -constitute what may be called the 'central' corpus of Neapolitan unknown composers whose presence at Naples can probably be assumed on the
sources, for it is here that a local repertory, both sacred and ,secular, truly comes to ground that their music appears in no other sources: Damianus, Seraphinus (No.
the fore. And though the manuscripts display the kind of interrelationships that 4), Fra M. di Ortona, Aedvardus di Ortona, Petrus Caritatus, and a number of
22
one would expect from sources that belong to the same tightly knit tradition, each composers who are identified in Perugia 431 by their initials only. Finally, with
of them retains a distinct profile of its own. their many strambotti- most of them with the so-called 'sicilian' rhyme scheme
The two manuscripts with the most clearly pronounced Neapolitan characters (Nos. 13-14 in the edition)- and barzellette (No. 12), Montecassino 871 and
are Montecassino 8 71 and Perugia 431. The first of these may have been copied at Perugia 431 afford us our first truly large-scale glimpse at the early development
the Benedictine monastery of Sant' Angelo at Gaeta, at which it at least came to of the frottola.
reside by the early sixteenth century. 19 The precise place at which Perugia 431 Of the four sources that belong to the Neapolitan tradition of the 1480s, only
one can be dated precisely: Bologna Q 16, the original layer of which was
claimed (pp. 16- 17) that the manuscript origi- Montecassino 8 71 and Seville 5-I-43 /Paris 43 79
nated within the Burgundian realm. Two impor-
completed in 148 7, with additions probably having been made in the early 1490s,
to the 1480s; on Bologna Q 16, see below.
tant reviews of the Perkins and Garey edition are 19
See Pope and Kanazawa, The Musical Manu- perhaps - given the ties of these additions with Florentine manuscripts - after
23
my own in the ]oumal of the American script Montecassino 871, pp. 2-3, 19-21; the Alexander Agricola's journey from Florence to Naples in May-June 1492.
Musicological Society. XXXIV (1981). 132-43. publication contains an edition and inventory of
and David Fallows. 'Three Neapolitan Repertor- the manuscript and a commentary on its con- 20 On the origins ofPerugia 431, see Atlas, 'On Kanazawa, The Musical Manuscript Montecassino
ies 1460-90: Three Recent Editions', where tents. The proposed origin at Gaeta has been the Neapolitan Provenance ofPerugia 431 '. 45- 871. pp. 29-46, and Cattin, 'Il repertorio
Tinctoris's involvement with the compilation of questioned by Ward , 'The Polyphonic Office 105, where there is also an inventory and short polifonico sacro'.
22 On the question of whether the Damianus
the manuscript is questioned (p. 498); on this Hymn and the Liturgy of Fifteenth-Century Italy', description of the contents of the manuscript. It
point, see also Woodley , 'Iohannes Tinctoris', p. pp. 179-80; Giulio Cattin, 'Canti polifonici del was on the basis of its close ties with represented in Montecassino 871 may be identi-
232, n. 35, where it is claimed thatTinctoris 'was repertorio benedettino'. pp. 492ff. suggests that Montecassino 8 71 that I suggested (in the article fied with the wind-player of that name who is
in fact the musical scribe of the manuscript the manuscript may have been compiled at the cited) that Perugia 431 may have been compiled recorded at Naples in 1456, see Pope and
(though not of the literary text). but that his Benedictine monastery of SS Severino e Sossio in at a Benedictine house, singling out the monas- Kanazawa , The Musical Manuscript Montecassino
function as ... "compiler" of the collection is Naples and then removed to the monastery at tery of SS Severino e Sossio because of its proxinl- 8 71. p. 34. As already noted in the preceding
more obscure'. I do not know if Woodley has Gaeta. Pope and Kanazawa (p. 19) show conclu- ity to the court and the favors that it received chapter (p. 107), Minieri Riccio, 'Alcuni fatti di
actually managed to identify Tinctoris's hand in sively that the source could not have been com- from the royal family. Recently, however, Cattin Alfonso I', p. 444, lists him as 'Tommaso
the manuscript. Perhaps such northern musi- pleted before Gaffurius's sojourn at Naples in has pointed out that the manuscript contains two Damiano'; Angles, 'La Musica en la Carte Real de
cian-scribes as Vincenet- who is especially well 14 78-1480. However. their suggestion that the pieces - a setting of the hymn Decus morum dux Arag6n y de Napoles', p. 1022, regards him as
represented in the manuscript (see below) - or manuscript was copied over a lengthy period of minorum and another of the Benedicanws Domino 'Tomas Damia', thus making him a Spaniard. In
Dortenche should also be considered as time. ('perhaps ten years, or even twenty') and pros a Qui nos fecit ex nichilo- that have Franciscan an earlier study, Angles. I.a Mtisica en la Carte de
candidates. that 'one may cite the last two decades of the associations. and that it might therefore have Ios Reyes Cat6licos, I. 149, had cited him as
17
On the allusion to Beatrice in Virgo Dei throno fifteenth century as the most probable date of the been written at a Franciscan institution. Cattin's 'Damiano Guterrit', thereby confusing him with
digna, see Perkins and Garey , The Mellon manuscript' seems to allow far too much leeway. conclusions appear in his paper 'Il repertorio another instrumentalist at the court. Gilet
Chansonnier, I. 19, and !I, 42 5; on 0 virgo mise- That the manuscript contains none of the more polifonico sacro nelle fonti napoletane del Guterrit. On the two composers from Ortona, see
re re mei. see Chap. VTI. pp. 148-49. modern repertory that appears in the Florentine Quattrocento' (I am grateful to Prof. Cattin for Atlas. 'On the Neapolitan Provenance ofPerugia
18
Though it is possible that various sections of sources of the 1490s or even in the later section of sharing his findings with me prior to their publi- 431', pp. 54-55, and my forthcoming edition of
these sources date from the latter part of the the Neapolitan manuscript Bologna Q 16 prob- cation). For an edition of the pieces with Italian an untitled Mass by Aedvardus (to be published
14 70s or the beginning of the 1490s, l believe ably points to the 1480s as the decade by which texts , see Michael Hernon, 'Perugia MS 431 (G by Antico Edition).
23 On the Neapolitan origins of the manuscript,
that we can safely assign all of Perugia 431 the source was completed. On the question of the 20): A Study of the Secular Italian Pieces'.
(except for the later-sixteenth-century additions date. see also my review of Pope and Kanazawa in 21 The sacred repertory of the two manuscripts see Atlas, Th e Cappella Giulia Chansonnier.l. 235-
and marginalia) and the greater parts of · Notes. XXXVli (1980). 45-47. is now most fully discussed in Pope and 36, and idem. 'On the Neapolitan Provenance of
122 Music at the Aragonese Court of Naples The Music Sources 123

Although the lack of complete texts and the presence of but two attributions- to Tinctoris's Helas and Vostre regart -which, however, probably date from before his
'Dux Burgensis' (Charles the Bold?) and the uncertain 'J.P.' (J osquin des Prez?- see Neapolitan period 27 -and Vincenet's popular Fortune, par ta cruaulte (see No. 17 in
Chap. Ill, p. 84 above, and No. 17 in the edition) - complicate the task of the edition), the Neapolitan repertory consists of a large number ofltalian pieces,
identifying the Neapolitan portion of the repettory , a number of pieces or groups of including a group of strambotti siciliani, some of which also appear in
compositions can probably be singled out as local products. Certainly, the Montecassino 871, Perugia 431 , and Bologna Q 16. And from among these
strambotto siciliano Sera nel core mio doglia, which appears in each of the other works, two- La morte che spavento de felice (No. 13) and the forward-looking,
three Neapolitan sources of this decade, must have originated within the artistic villanella-like Cavalcha Sinisbaldo tu la la note (No. 15)- are included in the edition.
circle of the court. Also prime candidates for Neapolitan origin are three entire In all, the four 'central' Neapolitan sources of the 1480s provide a detailed
complexes of compositions. First, there are the four pieces notated with gamma picture of the musical life of Aragonese Naples, at least as it flourished mainly
clef; that this clef is otherwise unknown in the secular music of the period, and that during the reign of Ferrante I. The manuscripts transmit music by such major
all four works are unique to Bologna Q 16, may well point to a local style trait, a figures at Naples as Tinctoris and Cornago as well as compositions by minor, local
conclusion that is reinforced by the association of this clef with Tinctoris. Second, composers who are otherwise unknown. The contents range from complete
the original layer of Bologna Q 16 contains at least five - and possibly seven - settings of the Ordinary of the Mass to the small-scale barzellette and strambotti
settings of Castilian texts, all but one of which are unica; 24 given the Aragonese that set the dialectal texts of the Neapolitan court poets. Finally, the sources
court's long poetic tradition in this language and the settings of Castilian poems by continue to attest to the great popularity at Naples of the Franco-Netherlandish
Corn ago and even the non-Spanish Vincenet, a local repertory must be suspected. chanson of the Busnois-Ockeghem generation. And it is with good reason, then,
Yet a third group of unique pieces, these having such epigrammatic titles as La that these are the manuscripts most often drawn upon in our edition.
taurina, Per la goula, and La rocca de fermesa, may also have local connotations that The final polyphonic manuscript of Neapolitan origin is the small fragment
await discovery. 25 Finally, two other pieces can probably be assigned to Naples housed at the Biblioteca Comunale of Foligno, which, however, can be dated only
with a fair degree of certainty: the large-scale Missa L'homme arme (No. 3 in the from the late 1470s or 1480s. That its origins are to be traced to Naples is evident
edition), which is unique to Bologna Q 16, and the arrangement a 2 of the well- not only from the very close relationship between its reading for A, ladri, perche
known La Spagna melody, a setting that also appears in Perugia 431, where it robbate le fatige and that in Perugia 431, but also from its use of southern dialect,
bears an ascription to the dancing-master Guglielmus Ebreo (No. 18 in the from its inclusion of a strambotto siciliano, and from the fact that it was in the
edition), who was present at Naples in the late 1460s. Thus, although the specific possession of a Neapolitan in the sixteenth century. 2 "
connections between Bologna Q 16 and Naples may not be as immediately In addition to the above sources of polyphonic music, Aragonese Naples has, I
obvious as are those between Naples and either Montecassino 871 or Perugia believe, bequeathed to us our two earliest extant tablatures of Italian provenance
431, the 'specialized'- that is, non-Franco-Burgundian- part of the Bologna Q 16
repertory is definitely meridional in character. Schavran, 'The Manuscript Pavia, Biblioteca 258). Columbus described his purchase as a
Universitaria, Codice Aldini 362', pp. 53-58. 'Cancionero de canto d'organo ... viejo y
The fourth manuscript of the 1480s tradition is Seville 5-I-43/Paris 4379, mutilado'; see Plamenac, 'A Reconstruction of
who claims that part of the manuscript probably
which eventually found its way to Rome, where it was purchased by Ferdinand dates from the 1470s. Finally, Boorman. 'Limita- the French Chansonnier in the Biblioteca
Columbus in September 1515. 26 In addition to Cornago's Moro, perche non dafede, tions and Extensions of Filiation Technique', pp. Colombina', pp. 504--5, and idem, 'Excerpta
335-39. argues that part of the manuscript- Colombiniana: Items of Musical Interest in
Perugia 431', p. 46, n . 5; see also Fuller, 'Addi- 24
Fuller, 'Additional Notes on the 15th-Cen- those layers copied by Scribe I - may have origi- Fernando Colon's "Regestrum" ', II, 678.
tional Notes on the 15th-Century Chansonnier tury Chansonnier Bologna Q 16', p. 85, n. 13. nated at a center other than Naples, and he at 27
See Chap. Ill, p. 76.
Bologna Q 16', p. 86; Haberkarnp, Die welt/iche Urrede's popular Nunca fue pena maior is among least implies that some consideration should be 28
I discuss the provenance of the manuscript
Volkalmusik in Spanien um 1500. p. 66; Jeppesen, the later additions to the manuscript. given to Rome. Despite his skillful marshaling of more fully in my article 'The Foligno Fragment:
La frottola, rr. 11. The assertion by Angles, 'El "See Fuller, op. cit., p. 97. the evidence, I cannot agree with his conclu- Another Source from Fifteenth-Century Naples'.
"Chansonnier fraw;:ais " de la Colombina de ,. For a discussion and inventory of the source, sions. What Boorman shows, I think. is (1) that Further descriptions of the manuscript appear in
Sevilla', p. 1391, that the manuscript was com- see Plarnenac, 'A Reconstruction of the French the Neapolitan 'tradition'- that is, its readings for Rubsamen , 'The Earliest French Lute Tablature',
piled in Spain must be disregarded. For a list of the Chansonnier in the Biblioteca Colombina, Se- the Franco-Netherlandish chanson repertory- is p. 294; Jeppesen, Lafrottola, I!, 61-62, and Plates
contents of the source, see Pease, 'A Report on ville'. A facsimile edition appears in idem. not absolutely homogeneous (I address this con- xxv-xxvrr. which constitute a facsimile edition
Codex Q 16', where, unfortunately. music and Facsimile Reproduction of the Manuscripts Se villa 5- clusion, with which I concur. in a forthcoming of the polyphonic portion of the fragment; and
text incipits are given separately and concor- I-43 and Paris N.A.Fr. 4379 (Pt.l). The manu- essay entitled 'Some Strarnbotti Siciliani and the Census-Catalogue of Manuscript Sources of Poly-
dances are omitted; for a list of the composers script is transcribed, though not entirely Reconstruction of a Neapolitan Fascicle-Manu- phonic Music, 1400-1550, I, 247, which, how-
represented and a partial concordance, see accurately (this is especially true of the poetic script'), and (2) that the readings for some chan- ever. partially confuses the source with an earlier
Fuller, op. cit .. pp. 81-82, 101-3, andJeppesen, texts) in Moerk, 'The Seville Chansonnier'. On the sons are shared by the sources of both the manuscript that is housed at the Archivio di
La frottola , ll, 110. For an edition of thirty-one provenance of the manuscript, see Atlas, Th e Neapolitan and Florentine traditions (another Stato, Foligno; seen. 1 in my article 'The Foligno
pieces from the manuscript, see Benton, Fifteenth Cappella Giulia Chansonnier. I, 2 57. An attempt to conclusion with which I agree, as witness my Fragment'.
Century Anonymous Chansons. date the source more precisely appears in remarks in The Cappe/la Giulia Chansonnier, I.
124 Music at the Aragonese Court of Naples The Music Sources 125

for plucked-string instruments. The more extensive of the two sources is the heart- by Johannes Bonadies. 33 And alongside pieces by John Hothby, Erfordia, and
shaped lute manuscript Pesaro 1144, the proposed pre-1500 date of which has Bonadies himself, there are four liturgical works by Bernardus Ycart, one of
engendered some debate. In part, the controversy resulted from a somewhat which, a setting of the Magnificat, is included in the edition (No. 5). Indeed, that as
misleading description of the source by Rubsamen, who, in dating Pesaro 1144 many as four of Ycart's compositions are transmitted together with those by
from before 1500, failed to explain the presence of the fifteenth-century lute pieces Hothby and Bonadies may, as was already noted (Chap. III, p. 79), shed light on at
-and watermarks- in the context in which they appear, that is, within a poetry least one period of Ycart's pre-Naples activity.
anthology compiled by Tempesta Biondi in the late sixteenth century. 29 Obvi- 33
Plamenac, 'Faenza, Codex 117', Die Musik in
ously, what is at issue is not the date ofPesaro 1144 as a whole, but simply that of its Geschichte und Gegenwart, Ill (1954), cols 1709-
original layers of lute music on fols. 1L32v, 78r-8lv, and possibly 33r-4ov. 10.
Hopefully, the question has been settled by David Fallows, who, having subjected
the manuscript to an intensive paleographical examination, concludes that the
original layers most probably date from the end of the fifteenth century. 30 What
has not been pointed out, however, is that the original sections of Pesaro 1144
were most likely written at Naples: (1) on fols. 39v-40v, the scribe employed the
so-called 'tabulatura alla napoletana', a system not known to have been used in
any source that can be shown to have been compiled outside Naples; (2) the
watermark, a 'balance', though not restricted to Naples, is frequently found on
paper used in the Neapolitan chancery during the 14 70s and 1480s; 31 and ( 3) one
of the pieces in Pesaro 1144, A, ladri, perche rob bate le fatige, survives in its original
polyphonic version only in the Neapolitan manuscripts Perugia 431 and Foligno.
While no single piece of evidence is conclusive by itself, the three strands of
evidence taken together point more strongly to Naples than to any other musical
center in late-fifteenth-century Italy.
The second tablature source is Bologna 596 H.H.24, a small three-leaffragment
that transmits intabulations ofVincenet' s Fortune, par ta cruaulte- the piece is here
entitled Fortuna vincinecta, as it is also only in Perugia 431 -and Juan de Le6n' sAy,
que non se rremediarme, which also reaches us in Bologna Q 16. A'gain, the
intabulator used the tablature 'alia napoletana', and the Neapolitan provenance
of the source seems beyond question. 32 The Bologna fragment is represented in the
edition by its arrangement of Vincenet's well-known chanson (No. 16).
Finally, for the purposes of the edition I have drawn upon one non-Neapolitan
manuscript, the polyphonic segment ofFaenza 117. Though primarily a source of
keyboard music, it was augmented with polyphonic compositions in 14 7 3-14 74

29
Rubsamen, op. cit. For the objection to
Rubsamen 's date, see Heartz, 'Mary Magadalen,
Lutenist'; see also Saviotti, 'Di un codice musicale
del secolo XVI'.
3
° Fallows, '15th-Century Tablatures for
Plucked Instruments', pp. 10-18; the pre-1500
date is also accepted by Brown, Sixteenth-Century
Instrumentation: The Music for the Florentine
Intermedii, p. 41.
31
The watermark is reproduced in Rubsamen,
'The Earliest French Tablature', pp. 289-90. On
its use in Neapolitan documents, see Barone, 'Le
filigrane delle antiche cartiere nei documenti
dell' Archivio di Stato in Napoli', pp. 83 and 94,
No. 62.
32
Fallows, '15th-Century Tablatures for
Plucked Instruments', pp. 18-28. The manu-
script was first described in a paper by Hans T.
David, 'An Italian Tablature Lesson of the Re-
naissance ', at the annual meeting of the Ameri-
can Musicological Society at Boston in 1958; it
will be published in a forthcoming posthumous
collection of Prof. David's essays.
128 Music at the Aragonese Court of Naples The Repertory 129
manuscript Bologna Q 16 (No. 3 in the edition). As Lewis Lockwood has noted, the Dei. Bologna Q 16 contains two sections of music for this movement: the first has
three Italian musical centers at which the L'homme arme tradition was strongest the superimposed mensuration signs g.
the text 'Angnus [sic] dei qui tollis miser-
were Naples, Ferrara, and Rome. 3 At Naples the vogue is attested by (1) the ere nobis' beneath the superius, and a final cadence on G, the 'tonic' of the Mass
quodlibet 0 rosa bella-L'homme arme in Tinctoris's Proportionale musices; 4 (2) the as a whole; the second section has the successive mensuration signs et: and ct:3: no
same theorist-composer's Missa L'homme arme, which if not actually composed at more text than the incipit 'An gnus dei qui tollis', and a final cadence on the triad d-
Naples may at least be presumed to have been known there; 5 (3) the inclusion in a-f' . In his edition, Feininger completed the tex of this latter section with the words
New Haven 91 of the three-voice combinative chanson Il sera pour vous-L'homme 'dona nobis pacem' , thus making it the final section of the movement and
arme, a four-voice version of which appears in the Ferrarese manuscript Rome producing an A A' B form and a final cadence on the 'dominant' for the Mass as a
2856 with an ascription to Robert Morton; 6 (4) the cycle of six L'homme arme whole. This solution is certainly incorrect. Rather, the text incipit of the second
Masses (by Caron?) in the manuscript Naples VI.E.40, which was seemingly a gift section should be completed with a second statement of 'miserere nobis' and then
to Beatrice d' Aragona from the court of Burgundy 7 (and even if the manuscript followed by a return to the first section, now sung with the words 'dona nobis
itself came to Naples only when Beatrice returned there in 1501, copies of the pacem'. This brings about an A B A' structure for the Agnus Dei and a final
music itself could easily have reached the court decades before that); and (5) the cadence on G, which agrees with the closing cadences of the first four
present, relatively little-known L'homme arme Mass in Bologna Q 16. 8 movements. 11
The Mass in Bologna Q 16 is of special interest in that it is the only known A second problem concerns Feininger's approach to musica ficta, which is, as
L'homme armeMass for three voices." Indeed, at a time when the four-voice Mass Lowinsky has noted, rather arbitrary.12 And here it is not a matter of quibbling
had already established itself as the norm, composers at Naples continued to show over this or that editorial accidental, but rather of Feininger' s having altered the
a certain predilection for Masses a 3. This is evident not only from the present entire modal framework of the Mass. Although Bologna Q 16 transmits the piece
work, but also from Tinctoris's Mass for Ferrante; perhaps- if it was composed at witho1,1t flats in any voice, Feininger has flatted almost every B- including those in
Naples- the same composer's Missa Sine nomine II; 1 ° Cornago's Missa Ayo vista la the cantus firmus - thus changing the mode from mixolydian to transposed
mapamundi; and the numerous settings of the Ordinary in Perugia 431 (see below dorian. My own approach has been to walk a tightrope, as it were, between B-
and Nos. 4-4a in the edition). Perhaps the use of a three-voice texture is a sign of a natural and B-flat, flatting the Bs only where the 'rules' of musica ficta seem to
certain Neapolitan provincialism, a verdict that is in keeping with various stylistic demand them.
aspects of both the Missa L'ham me arme in Bologna Q 16 and much of the Mass A third problem in Feininger's edition concerns the text underlay. Feininger
music in Perugia 431. followed Bologna Q 16 in placing text only beneath the superius in all movements
Although the present Mass has already been edited by Feininger, a new edition except the Kyrie, where he adjusted the text to all three voices. Quite apart from
is warranted on the grounds that Feininger's leaves much to be ddired, quite not texting the same number of voices throughout the Mass, Feininger's general
apart from his use of original clefs and time values, which makes his edition rather practice of texting only the upper voice goes against what now seems to be the
unwieldy for purposes of performance. First, there is his treatment of the Agnus consensus of scholarly opinion about the marmer in which liturgical music was
customarily performed in this period, that is, a cappella, with the possible accompa-
' 'Aspects of the "L'homme arme" Tradition'. 'See Chap. VI, p. 116 and n . 5.
p. llO. • The work is not included in the lists of
niment of the organ (however, see the discussion ofYcart's Magnificat below). 13 I
• See Se ay, ]ohannis Tinctoris: Opera theoretica, L'homme arme'Masses given either by Cohen, The have, therefore, placed text beneath each of the voices, though sometimes in a way
Ila, 51, and 'The Proportionale musices ofJohan- Six Anonymous L'homme arme' Masses, p. 72- 74, that calls for comment. In both the Gloria and the Credo, the cantus-firmus tenor,
nes Tinctoris', 70-71: Coussemaker, Scriptorum or by Gombosi, ]acob Obrecht: Eine stilkritische
de musica medii aevi, IV, 173. Studie, pp. 47-48: nor is it among the Masses
which moves in long, sustained values with frequent ligatures and rests, does not
'The unique source for the work is Rome 35, a discussed by Lockwood, 'Aspects of the have enough notes to accommodate the lengthy texts of those movements. At
manuscript compiled at Rome principally during "L'homme arme" Tradition', pp. 97ff, or by times, therefore, I have not only omitted sections of the text (deletions are
the reign of Innocent VIII; on the date of the Reese, Music in the Renaissance, passim.
indicated by means of ellipses)/ 4 but have even broken up individual words,
manuscript, see Lockwood, 'Aspects of the • This was noted both by Feininger, in his
"L'homme arme" Tradition', p. llO: an edition edition of the Mass. Documenta majora polyphoniae 11
appears in Melin, ]ohanni Tinctoris: Opera omnia, liturgicae sanctae ecclesiae romanae: No. l, and by The tempo markings in this and the other Discoveries and Revisions' , pp. 199-202: idem,
pp. 74-114. Lowinsky, 'Laurence Feininger (1909- 1976): movements that juxtapose the mensuration 'Performance Practices at the Cathedral of
• An edition and facsimile of the version a 3 Life, Work, Legacy', p. 343. signs 0 and <t are, of course. approximations. Cambrai. 1475-1550', pp. 322-23; Polk, 'En-
appear in Perkins and Garey, The Mellon 10
The work is so designated in Melin. ]ohanni
12
'La urence Feininger'. pp. 343 and 365, n. semble Performance in Dufay's Time', p. 66.
14
Chansonnier, I. 124-25; both versions are in- Tinctoris: Opera omnia, p. 33; Tinctoris's Missa 29. In the Credo, the composer seems intention-
cluded in Atlas, Robert Morton: The Collected super Nos amis is also a 3; but as we have noted
13
See, for example, D' Accone, 'The Perform- ally to have omitted the phrases 'Et resurrexit
Works , pp. 7-10, which also includes a discus- (Chap. III, p. 76) it was composed before his ance of Sacred Music in Italy during Josquin's tertia die. secundum Scripturas' and from 'Et in
sion of the problem of authenticity (pp. xxxiii-iv). arrival in Naples. Time', pp. 614-18; Wright, 'Dufay at Cambrai: Spiritum Sanctum' through 'Confiteor unum
130 Music at the Aragonese Court of Naples The Repertory 131
assigning to a given note or ligated group of notes a single syllable of one word and general style is the Credo attributed to Seraphinus in Perugia 431 (No. 4 in the
then continuing with another word or syllable on the following note or ligature. edition). About the identity of the composer we can only speculate, but perhaps he
Thus, when the tenor enters at measure 19 of the Gloria, the superius and may be identified with the Seraphinus Baldesaris who is represented by a lauda in
contratenor are about to begin the phrase 'Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam Petrucci's Laude libro II of 1508. 17 Certainly, this Seraphinus is a more likely
gloriam tuam', which they sing over a passage of eight measures before coming to contender than either of the other two musicians of that name who have been
a cadence on the syllable '-am' at measure 25. Against this, the tenor first has a proposed: (1) the famous poet-improvisator Serafino dall' Aquila, 18 who, despite
two-note ligature that spans four measures and then a three-note ligature that his having studied music with Guillaume Guarnier at Naples (see Chap. Ill above,
covers five measures. Since even the splitting of ligatures and sustained notes pp. 82-83) is unlikely to have composed any large-scale polyphony, and (2)
would not give the tenor room enough to sing more than a fragment of the Franciscus Seraphinus, 19 who, on the basis of his being represented by a motet in
seventeen-syllable text, I have assigned it the syllable 'Gra-' on the first ligature Giunta's Fior de motetti e canzoni of circa 1526 and having taken part in the well-
and the syllable '-am' on the second, a solution that at least achieves a sense of known musical correspondence with Giovanni del Lago, 20 would have been too
euphony of vowels at the beginning and end of the phrase. (When such isolated young to have been included in a manuscript compiled during the 1480s; indeed,
syllables occur, they are printed with ellipses and capital letters.) The only Franciscus Seraphinus did not die before 1541. 21
alternatives to such shredding of the text would be a vocalized - but untexted - Seraphinus has set the lengthy Credo text in a rather unusual way. He
performance of the tenor or instrumental execution of the part (again, see the composed four sections of three-voice polyphony, beneath the superius parts of
discussion of Ycart's Magnificat). which the lines of the text are disposed as follows:
Finally, we may hazard a guess as to what event- if indeed there was a specific
Section A: [2.] Patrem omnipotentem . . .
one - may have occasioned the composition of the Mass. Whatever other [9.] Crucifixus etiam pro nobis ...
connotations the L'homme armi tune may have had for the composers and [16.] Confiteor unum baptisma ...
educated listeners of the fifteenth century, one of its associations had to do with the Section B: [4,] Et ex Patre ...
ever-present threat of the Turks. 15 And that this 'meaning' of the tune was known [11.] Et ascendit in caelum ...
[18 .] Et vitam venturi seculi. Amen.
at Naples is evident from the appearance in New Haven 91 of a double chanson by
Section C: [6.] Genitum, non factum .. .
Robert Morton that combines the L'horn me armi tune with the rondeau Il sera pour [13 .] Et in Spritum Sanctum . ..
vous conbatu, which jokingly urges the musician Symon le Breton to do battle with Section D: [8.] Et incarnatus est . . .
the 'doubte Turcq'. Now, assuming that the L'homme armi Mass was composed at
Naples - and its three-voice texture and its status as an unicum in Bologna Q 16 Presumably, the lines of text that are not accounted for would have been sung in
together speak strongly for such origins- and that it too may partake ofthe anti- plainsong, performed on the organ, or (as we shall see presently) filled in with
Turk meaning of the tune- this of course is speculation - then the single event that polyphonic fragments probably composed by someone else. Thus the movement
would most likely have inspired its composition was surely the Battle ofOtranto, at could have been performed in alternatim fashion: chant ('Credo in unum Deum')-
which Alfonso, Duke of Calabria, led the Neapolitan army to victory over the A - chant - B - chant - C - chant - D - etc. This simple pattern of alternation is
Turkish occupation forces in September, 1481. Perhaps, then, the present Mass 17
I have already offered this identification in Die Quellen der mehrstimmigen Magnificat- und Te
celebrates that victory, and perhaps the person to whom the Mass is addressed is 'On the Neapolitan Provenance of Perugia 431 ', Deum-Vertonungen. p. 557, n. 519; he is also
the duke himself, whose own reputation as a military leader would have made him pp. 64-65; his name is also suggested, though in suggested as the possible composer by Jeppesen,
connection with a Magnificat in Perugia 431. as Italia musica sacra, I, xiv.
a fitting dedicatee. 16 one of two possibilities in Kirsch, Die Quellen der 20
See Jeppesen. 'Eine musiktheoretische
Very different from the L'homme armi Mass with respect to both structure and mehrstimmigen Magnificat- und Te Deum- Korrespondence des friiheren Cinquecento';
Vertonungen bis zur Mitte des 16. ]ahrhunderts, p. Harnin, 'The Theorist Giovanni del Lago: A New
baptisma in remissionem peccatorum'. On the respectively. 55 7, n. 519. This identification is not accepted by View of his Music and his Writings'.
15 See Hannas, op. cit., pp. 168-69; Chew, op.
problem of textual deletions in the Credo, see Cattin, 'I! repertorio polifonico sacro nelle fonti 21
An entry in the Giornale Strozzi for 8 January
Hannas, 'Concerning Deletions in the Polyphonic cit., pp. 266-67. napoletane del Quattrocento', on the ground that 1473 (Vol. 27, fol. 8; see Galiano, 'Nuove fonti
Mass Credo'; Chew, 'The Early Cyclic Mass as an 16
The association of the Mass with the Battle of Petrucci's two lauda collections are far removed per la storia musicale napoletana' , n. 57) men-
Expression of Royal and Papal Supremacy'; see Otranto also fits well with the date of the original from the Neapolitan orbit; he prefers simply to tions a 'frate Seraphinus' , but without stating
also Bent and Bent. 'Dufay. Dunstable, Plumrner layer ofBologna Q 16, which was copied in 148 7. group Seraphinus with a number of other whether or not he was directly associated with
-A New Source', pp. 413-14; Kenney , Waiter For speculation that the dedicatee of one or an- unidentifiable composers who are represented in the court or if he was a musician. Could he be our
Frye and the Contenance Angloise. pp. 52- 53; and other of the L'homme arme Masses by northern Perugia 431. elusive composer? In any event, Leone, Il Giornale
the communications by Jeremy Noble and W. K. composers might have been Charles the Bold, 18
Seraphinus is so identified in Hernon, del banco Strozzi di Napoli, p. 564, n. 229, is
Ford in Journal of the American Musicological Soci- Duke of Burgundy, see Lockwood, 'Aspects of the 'Perugia MS 431 (G 20)', pp. 104--5. certainly incorrect in identifying 'frate
ety, VI (1953), 91- 92, and VII (1954), 170-72, "L'homme arme" Tradition', p. 109, n. 34. 19
He is the other composer named by Kirsch, Seraphinus' as the poet Serafino dall' Aquila .
140 Music at the Aragonese Court of Naples The Repertory 141

cop la

Secular Music estribillo mudanza vuelta

ab ab a cdcd ababa
Settings of Spanish Texts abbab cdcd ab b ab
abaab cdcd ab a ab

During the reign of Alfonso I. the chieflyric language at the court was Castilian. A In addition, Torroella employs the often-found device of casting the octosyllabic
vivid reminder of this is the fact that no group of Italian sources includes as many lines of the estribillo in alternating 'agudo' and 'llano' verses, that is, alternating
pieces with Castilian texts as are found in the Neapolitan music manuscripts, lines of seven separately pronounced syllables, with the last one receiving an
especially in the 'central' sources of the 1480s: one piece in Escorial IV.a.24, 56 one accent (and thus counting as two), and lines of eight separate syllables. No less
in New Haven 91, 57 nine in Montecassino 871 (plus one in Catalan), 58 two in conventional is Cornago's musical setting: AB BA, with the estribillo and vuelta
Perugia 431, 59 and eight (possibly ten) in Bologna Q 16. 60 In addition, the being sung to the outer sections, the two couplets of the mudanza to the two B
manuscript Bologna 596 H.H.2 4 contains an intabulation of Juan de Leon's Ay, sections, each of which has its own ending.
que non se rremediarme, one of the Spanish pieces transmitted in Bologna Q 16. 61 The various redactions of the piece raise a question with respect to the music-
The composer who contributed most prominently to the Spanish repertory at text relationship. The scribes of both Montecassino 8 71 and Escorial IV.a.24
the court was, of course, Joan Cornago. In the edition, Cornago is represented by placed what fragments of text they entered beneath the tenor voice (labeled the
his setting of Yerra con poco saber (No. 9), a canci6n by the Catalan poet Pere contra tenor in Escorial IV.a.24), 65 which led Haberkamp and Pope and Kanazawa
Torroella, 62 who was himself at Naples circa 1456-1458- that is, at the same to text only that voice in their editions of the piece. 66 Indeed, Pope and Kanazawa
time as Cornago- residing there in the company of Juan of Aragon, nephew of claim to see almost what amounts to word-painting of a sort in the relationship
Alfonso I. 63 It was no doubt while they were both at the court that Corn ago and between the poem and the melody of the tenor. Yet despite the evidence of the
Torroella collaborated on the work. sources, I have placed the poem in the superius, certainly the more customary
The structure ofTorroella's poem conforms to the rhyme scheme and metrical position in a performance in which only one part is sung. 67
pattern that were characteristic in the fifteenth-century canci6n. In order of Another example of the canci6n is Vincenet's La pena sin ser sabida (No. 10 in the
popularity, the three most commonly used rhyme schemes - Torroella uses the edition). The piece is notable for two reasons, for unless we are dealing with a
first - were: 64 contrafactum it shows that Spanish poetry was still being set well into Ferrante's
reign and that the language held some appeal even for non-Spanish composers. As
6
' No. 91 in the inventory by Southern, 'El
was the case in Torroella's poem, the anonymous poet wrote an estribillo of five
'Additional Notes on the 15th-century
Escorial, Monastery Library. Ms. IV.a.24', p. 70, Chansonnier Bologna Q 16', p. 85 and n. 13. lines ('quintilla') 68 with the rhyme scheme ab ab a. Where the two poems differ is
where Cornago's Morte merqe gentil aquila is listed 6
' For a fine general treatment of the Spanish in the vuelta, where the author of La pena sin ser sabida not only reproduces the
incorrectly as a Spanish canci6n. Although the repertory at the court, see Pope and Kanazawa,
form of the poem is somewhat irregular, it is in
rhyme scheme of the estribillo, but actually restates its final three lines, so that
The Musical Manuscript Montecassino 871. pp.
Italian. 86-99, and Pope, 'La Musique espagnole a la they have the effect of a refrain. 69 In fact, it is the lack of a true refrain in the
"No. 44; see Perkins and Garey, The Mellon cour de Naples'. pp. 35ff. canci6n - the estribillo is not repeated after the vuelta - that is one of the
Chansonnier, IT, 368 . 62
The poem is attributed to him in both the distinguishing features between the Spanish form on the one hand and its French
"Nos.IO. 16, 19, 27, 84.102.103,104, and manuscript London 10431 and the Cancionero
Ill, and No. 127 in Catalan; see Pope and general of 1511; it is ascribed to Juan de Mena in and Italian equivalents- the bergerette and the ballata- on the other. 70
Kanazawa, The Musical Manuscript Montecassino Modena XI.B.IO. The poem is accepted as The main musical problem in the piece occurs at the repeat sign that signals the
871. p. 86, where No. 104 is omitted. The manu- Torroella's in Bach y Rita, The Works of Pere first and second endings in the mudanza. Here the superius and contra altus each
script contained at least eight (and possibly nine) Torroella , p. 270. On London 10431, see
more Castilian·texts that are now lost (ibid., p. 8 6, Rennart, 'Der spanische Cancionero des British
have a blackened breve superimposed above the normal void breve- e' over c' in
n. I). Museums': on Modena XI.B.IO, see Bertoni,
,. Nos. 40 and 54; see Atlas, 'On the Neapoli- 'Catalogo dei codici spagnuoli della Biblioteca 6
' According to Hanen, The Chansonnier El
68
The four-line type is called a 'redondilla '.
tan Provenance ofPerugia 431', pp. 86, 90; the Estense in Modena', p. 321. Escorial IV.a.24, I, 185, the text in Escorial 69
On this feature of the canci6n, see Pope and
text of No. 40, Robert Morton's Pues serviqio, 63
Mele. 'Qualche nuovo dato sulla vita di IV.a.24 was entered by a later hand, not by the Kanazawa, The Musical Manuscript Montecassino
must certainly be a contrafactum. the original Mossen Pere Torroella e suoi rapporti con main scribe. 871, p. 91 and n. 25.
poem having probably been a bergerette. Giovanni Pontano', pp. 83ff. 66
See the Critical Notes. 7
° For an instructive tabular comparison of the
60
Nos. 66. 70, 81, 87, 99, 116, 121. and 125 64
See Navarro, Repertorio de estrofas espaiiolas, 67
It is the superius that is texted in the version three types, see Perkins and G;uoey, The Mellon
(the texts of Nos. 9 and 19 are too short to allow p. 63. in Trent 89, where, however, the piece appears Chansonnier, IT, 9 5.
identification as Spanish or Italian); see Fuller, with a Latin contrafactum, Ex ore tuo.
148 Music at the Aragonese Court of Naples The Repertory 149
several considerations: (1) Perugia 431 , probably compiled by the mid-1480s, The association between 0 Virgo , miserere mei and Beatrice is made explicit by
antedates by two to three decades both Giunta's print and any of the manuscript the inscription that accompanies the piece: 'Beatissime virgini domini Beatrici de
sources that agree with it; (2) Serafino had been active at Naples only shortly Aragonia' .100 Although Perkins's contention that the motet was originally in-
before Perugia 431 was compiled, so that that manuscript would seem to have tended to serve as the opening composition in New Haven 91 remains hypotheti-
added authority; and (3) sixteenth-century editors and publishers - Giunta cal, 101 the inscription does establish a terminus ante quem for both the composition
included- frequently tampered with the texts that they printed. 9 3 Thus Sufferir so and its entry into the manuscript, Summer 14 7 5, when Beatrice was officially
disposto should be added to the list of Serafino's strambotti siciliani, thus bringing betrothed to Matthias Corvinus, after which time the reference to Beatrice as a
the number of his poems in that form from five to six.94 'maiden' would have been inappropriate. 102
Finally, we come to Cavalcha Sinisbaldo tuta la note (No. 15 in the edition), an The association between Beatrice and the motet extends beyond the inscription,
anonymous unicum in Seville 5-I-43 / Paris 43 79 . Although classified as a for, as Jaap van Benthem has recently shown, Tinctoris 'personalized' the motet by
strambotto by Cardamone,9 5 the poem contains a number of features that set it imbuing it with number symbolism on a number oflevels. Thus, to cite but two of
apart from the other strambotti: (1) there is a recurring refrain, 'Pan e his examples: there are 13 3 notes in the superius, that number - using simple
paneda . . .', that returns after each couplet, thus imparting to the piece one of the gematria applied to the Latin alphabet - being the numerical equivalent of
main characteristics of the villanesca alla napoletana, which was itself a strambotto 'Beatrice de Aragonia'; there are twenty-one notes that form a rhythmically
blown up by the insertion of a refrain; 9 6 (2) the number of couplets has been distinct (almost irrational) passage at measures 16-18, with the ciphers '2 1'
increased from four to five; and (3) the rhyme scheme does not conform to any of probably standing for the initials 'BA', those of the dedicatee herself. 103
the standard patterns. Cavalcha Sinisbaldo also differs from most of the strambotti Finally, a word is in order about the relationship between music and text in the
in the Neapolitan sources with respect to its musical style. Instead of the usually motet. Perhaps it is a result of the constraints imposed by the use of number
lyrical superius above a thin and ever-so-slightly contrapuntal support, the main symbolism and the necessity of shaping the lengths of phrases to serve that
melody is here in the tenor, being stated twice within each couplet. And given that purpose, but there is a sense of 'abstractness' about the music that causes
the two statements are thoroughly syllabic and identical, it is likely that the difficulties with respect to text underlay, difficulties that are certainly not helped
composition is a setting of a pre-existent tune, 9 7 one that was almost certainly by the scribe's placement of the text in New Haven 91. More so than in most pieces,
popular in origin. therefore, the solution to the proolem of text underlay must be regarded as even
more tenuous than usual, and those who wish to perform the piece would do well
Pieces for the Royal Family to compare it with those offered by Perkins and by Melin. 104
Less certain is the association between the anonymous Viva, viva, rey Ferranddo
I
To wade through the Neapolitan music manuscripts in search of compositions and Ferrante I. What seems at first to be a clear case of an occasional composition
written for members of the royal family is a somewhat disappointing experience. in horror of the king in Montecassino 8 71 is complicated by a concordance in
Out of a total of 783 works transmitted by the eight polyphonic sources that I have Berlin 78 .C.28, where the piece was entered without text or text incipit, but with
assigned to Naples, 98 only three short pieces display associations with the ruling the capital letters 'S' and 'D' at the beginning of its two sections. On the ground
family: Tinctoris's two song-motets for Beatrice- 0 Virgo , mise re re mei (No. 1 in the that Berlin 78.C.28 is the earlier of the two manuscripts, Reidemeister contends
edition) and Virgo Dei throno digna- both of which appear (the first as an unicum) that the now-lost text of Berlin 78.C.28- perhaps a bergerette- must have been
in New Haven 91, and the problematical Viva , viva, rey Ferranddo (No. 2), which the original one and that the Spanish poem that lauds Ferrante is a
reaches us in both Berlin 78 .C.28 and Montecassino 871. 99 contrafactum. 105 He supports this conclusion by noting two small but important
rhythmic alterations at the beginning of the superius of Montecassino 8 71,
93
On this point, see Bauer-Formiconi, Die 98
The number includes multiple redactions of
strambotti des Serafino dall'Aquila, p. 16 7; the same piece. By manuscript, the figures break changes that he claims were made in order to accommodate the new text:
Migliorini, Storia della lingua italiana, p. 282. down as follows: Escorial IV.a.24, 118; Berlin 100
94 Although no such similar inscription ac- My objections are noted in my review of the
The other examples of Serafino's 'Sicilian' 78.C.28 , 42; New Haven 91. 57; Montecassino companies Virgo Dei throno digna. Perkins and edition (seep. 120 above, n. 16), p. 138, n . 8.
strambotti are listed in Bauer-Formiconi. op. cit., 8 71. 14 1; Perugia 4 3 1, 122; BolognaQ 16, 131; 103
Garey are convincing in viewing this work as a Van Benthem, 'Concerning Johannes
p. 54, n. 76. Seville 5-I-43/Paris 4379 , 167; Foligno, 6.
95 companion piece to 0 Virgo (The Mellon Tinctoris and the Preparation of the Princess's
Cardamone, 'Forme musicali e metriche 99
My speculation that the L'lwmme arme Mass Chansonnier, I, 19; Il, 425). Chansonnier'.
della canzone villanesca e della villanella alia in Bologna Q 16 may be associated with Alfonso, 101
Ibid., I. 20. 104
The Mellon Chansonnier, I, 85; ]ohanni
napolitana, p. 37. Duke of Calabria (see above , p. 130), is nothing 102
I cannot, however. agree with the use to Tinctoris: Opera omnia, p. 123, where the word
96
Cardamone, The Debut of the "Canzone more than that. Tinctoris's Missa a trium vocum which Perkins puts the inscription as evidence- 'meorum' is read incorrectly as 'in corum'.
villanesca alia napolitana" ', p. 9 3. appears only in the manuscript Verona 755 ,
97 in conjunction with other pieces of evidence - for 105
Reidemeister, Die Handschrift 78C28 des
The tenor alone is transcribed in Pirrotta. Li which is not of Neapolitan provenance. pre- and post-betrothal stages in the compilation Berliner Kupferstichkabinetts , pp. 28 and 104- 5.
due Orfei, p. 120 (idem, Music and Theatre, p. 88).
of the manuscript (The Mellon Chansonnier. I. 32).
150 Music at the Aragonese Court of Naples The Repertory 151
Berlin 78.C.28: Neapolitan manuscripts that date from after the mid-14 70s except Montecassino
r.-.
1=1 1=1 1=1 1=1 0• ~ 0• l 8 71. Indeed, in terms of the number of extant sources in which it survives,
Vincenet's chanson may be said to have enjoyed the widest circulation of any
[Vi - va, vi - va, rey ... ]
piece either composed at Naples or written by a composer who was active there. In
Montecassino 8 71: addition, its popularity is further attested by two instrumental arrangements, one
0 0 1=1 1=1 0 0 0• b O• h for solo lute in Francesco Spinacino's Intabolatura de liuto, Libra II (Venice, 1507),
[Vi - va, vi - va, rey Fer-ran - .... and the other, the present version for solo voice and lute accompaniment, in the
Further evidence in support of Reidemeister's conclusion may be found in the manuscript fragment Bologna 596 H.H.2 4 (No. 16 in the edition).
lopsided relationship between the music and the Spanish text, which calls for After transposing the entire piece up one whole step, from C to D, so that it fits an
either inordinately long melismas (which, given the many rests and generally instrument tuned to A, the intabulator retained Vincenet's superius without
change - there are no important variants between the superius in the present
square rhythm of the superius, tend to sound rather labored), instrumental
interludes, or extensive repetition of text- the last being the solution offered in the version and that in New Haven 91, the most authoritative source for the
polyphonic model- and arranged the tenor and contratenor parts for the lute or
present edition. 106 On the other hand, the poor music-text relationship at the
vihuela de mano. These voices, however, are treated more freely. While the tenor
beginning of the superius of Berlin 78.C.28 is a common enough fault in late-
part of the intabulation is slightly embellished near the very end (measures 47ff) ,
fifteenth-century chansonniers, especially those from Italy, and the type of
alteration that occurs in Montecassino 871 (the splitting of breves into the contra is simplified throughout, often sustaining a tone or even resting when
semibreves) is one that scribes introduced frequently, even when not dealing with its polyphonic prototype had been very much on the move (measures 10-12, 2 7-
contrafacta. Thus, while Reidemeister's argument is compelling- the rhythmic 33, 44-51}. 109 At times, the contra part of the intabulation is so skeletal as to raise
alteration in Montecassino 8 71 does seem well calculated -the possibility that the problems in the transcription (see below).
scribe of Berlin 78.C.28 may simply have entered the wrong initials cannot be The differences between the polyphonic and in tabulated contra tenor parts raise
altogether excluded. the question of what the intabulator had before him as a model. Unfortunately, a
Also problematical is the event that occasioned the composition of the piece or- comparison of the instrumental arrangement with various redactions of the
if the Spanish text is a contrafactum- its union with the poem in honor ofFerrante. polyphonic original leads to no firm conclusions. However, that the intabulation
Unfortunately, not only does the text of the canci6n lack any allusions to a specific shares with the Neapolitan manuscript Perugia 431 not only the small detail of a
historical event- nor is it likely that any such clue appeared in the now-missing passing-note gin the contratenor on the final eighth-note of measure 7, but also
vuelta of the poem 107 - but after its initial reference to the king it turns away from the unusual entry of a combined attribution-title - Fortuna vincinecta - that
Ferrante's exploits and dwells on the victory of love. It seems, then, that past appears in no other source points to a possible relationship with the reading of
proposals that the piece celebrates either Ferrante's coronation or his victory over Perugia 431. Yet that Perugia 431 itself could not have served as the direct source
Jean of Anjou and the pro-Angevin barons remain somewhat unconvincing.1os for the intabulation is evident from the many corrupt passages in its own contra
part: measures 14-30:1 are lacking, while measures 38:1-44:3 are written a
third too low.
A French Chanson for Solo Voice and Lute (or Vihuela de mano) A notable feature of the intabulation is its use of the so-called tablature 'alia
napoletana' . Like the customary Italian tablature, the Neapolitan system uses
That the secular works ofVincenet were appreciated at the royal court is attested numbers to signify the frets ; yet contrary to normal Italian practice, it uses the
by the inclusion of all four of his known settings of vernacular lyric poetry in New numeral '1' -rather than '0' - to designate the open string. Even at Naples,
Haven 91. And by far the most popular of these songs was Fortune, par ta cruaulte, however, this procedure apparently failed to gain widespread acceptance, and
which appears in at least thirteen polyphonic sources, among them all the besides its appearance in Bologna 596 H.H.2 4 it is otherwise known from its use in
only three other sources: (1) Pesaro 1144, where it is found on fols. 39v-4Qv; (2} a
10
• Text-repetition. though far less extensive, is 107
Pope and Kanazawa, op. cit., p. 91, specu- Neapolitan edition ofFrancesco da Milano that was published in 1536 with the
also employed in Pope and Kanazawa, The Musi- late that there may never have been a vuelta and title Libra secondo de la Fortuna; and (3) Michele Carrara's Intavolatura di liuto of
cal Manuscript Montecassino 871. p. 442--48; that it might have been replaced by the initial
Haberkamp. Die weltliche Vokalmusik in Spanien
1585, where it is expressly designated as 'Modo de intavolare alia Napoletana' .110
refrain.
um 1500, pp. 284-87, uses melismas. in many of 10
' Reidemeister, Die Handschrift 78C28 des

which the syllables of individual words are sepa-

109
The relationship between the in tabulation Tablatures for Plucked Instruments', p. 25.
Berliner Kupferstichkabinetts, p. 28; Pope and
rated by lengthy rests; Reidemeister, op. cit, No. and the lower parts of the original chanson has "
0
Ibid .. pp. 22, 25.
Kanazawa, op. cit., p. 642.
34. offers a transcription without text. already been noted by Fallows, '15th-century
152 Music at the Aragonese Court of Naples The Repertory 153

The transcription of the lute or vihuela part is not without its problems and has
required three important emendations. On the final beat of measure 13 , the
intabulator calls for an e in the contra, thus producing consecutive octaves with
the superius (measures 13:4-14:1 ). I have followed the voice-leading of all the
polyphonic sources and substituted the note a. The other two emendations are
more problematical. for it is difficult to say whether we are dealing with scribal
errors or whether the troublesome places represent the intabulator's intentions.
Should we, on the first two beats of the tenor at measure 4, continue to hear the f'
of the previous measure, or should there be a rest, or was an e' omitted? Similarly,
at measure 16, should the b/d' on the third beat have been sounded on the first
beat of the measure, or did the scribe simply omit the g/d'? In both instances, the
transcription follows the voice-leading of the polyphonic model. A final remark
about the transcription of the music concerns the barring in Bologna H.H.2 4 •
Although the scribe used bar lines, they appear at irregular intervals and in what
seems to be a thoroughly capricious manner. Moreover, the bar lines for the voice
part do not always coincide with those of the accompaniment, despite the scribe's
belated effort to remedy the situation with bar lines that sometimes resemble the
letter 's'. In the edition, I have resorted to regularly recurring bar lines.
Pieces for Instrumental Ensemble
The two instrumental pieces in the edition are representative of two kinds of works
that would have made up the repertory of the instrumental ensembles at the court:
the 'free' instrumental chanson and music for the dance.
Although it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between a 'chanson' that was
conceived from the outset as a piece for an instrumental ensemble- a Renaissance
'song without words', as the genre has recently been called"'- and a true forme-
fixe setting that has merely been shorn of its text, 112 Je ne demande de vous (No. 17 in
the edition; in Bologna Q 16, the unique source for the composition, the incipit
reads ]e ne demano de vos) clearly belongs to the former group, as demonstrated by
(1) alternation between two- and three-part writing that seems quite divorced
The chief question about the piece, however, centers upon the identity of its
composer: 'J.P.' Could it be Josquin des Prez (Jodocus Pratensis, Jodocus a Prato)?
Though a firm conclusion cannot be offered, I should - at the risk of repeating
some points already noted in Chap. IIP 15 -like to make the following observations:
(1) the style of the piece virtually precludes its having been composed by Jehan
Pullois or the 'J .P. • ofOxford 213; (2) its very presence in a Neapolitan source of the
1480s runs counter to the known pattern of dissemination of the works of
Johannes Prioris; (3) the ascription to 'J.P.' is one of only two attributions in
Bologna Q 16,116 and must therefore have had some special significance for the
scribe or compiler of the manuscript; (4) there is nothing in the piece that would
definitely rule out the possibility of Josquin's having composed it (though it is
certainly less than Josquin at his best); and (5) there is a short passage of two-part
imitation at the close time interval of a minim (measures 36-38)- a technique
that, while not exclusive to Jos(!uin, would be handled brilliantly in later works by
the composer. 117
In all, then, the best that can be said is that ]e ne demande could be by Josquin
(though the style also admits the possibility that it was written by }apart-another
resolution of '.J.p:'?), and if it is, it lends at least some support to Lowinsky's notion
that the composer might have been part of the entourage that accompanied
Ascanio Sforza to Naples. And if that is true, to push the hypothesis one step
further, the unicum status of Je ne demande in Bologna Q 16 could indicate that the
piece was composed there, in which case it might well represent the sole surviving
legacy of Josquin's very hypothetical Neapolitan sojourn.
Finally, music for the dance is represented in the edition by the well-known
118
arrangement a 2 of the popular basse-danse melody La Spagna (No. 18 ). The 'M.
Gulielmus' to whom the work is ascribed in Perugia 431, where it appears with
the title Falla con misuras - the piece appears in Bologna Q 16 without an
attribution and with the title La bassa castiglya- has been identified as the famous
dancing-master Gulielmus Ebreo da Pesaro, 119 who may be the same as Giovanni
Ambrosio da Pesaro. 120 To the literature that has already grown up about this
arrangement' 21 may be added two further observations, both of which concern
11 ' For a list of La Spagna settings, see Gombosi.

from references to words; (2) the rhythmic parallelism between the parts in the '"See p. 84 and n . 140.
116 ln No. 126 in that manuscript, the place
duo sections;'' ' ( 3) the use of a short, incisive motive- again seemingly conceived normally reserved for the text incipit bears the
without regard for text- that is stated sequentially (measures 12-17); and (4) a entry 'Dux Carlus'; whether this should be under-
stood as a title or an attribution - to Charles the
phrase structure that will not easily accommodate either the quatrain or cinquain
Bold - is not clear. The same piece reaches us with
type of rondeau. 114 the incipit Madame, helas and an ascription to
Compositione di messer Vicenzo Capirola, pp. lxii-
lxiii.
11 • See Bukofzer, Studies in Medieval and Renais-
sance Music , p 196.
120 See Chap. V above, p. 103.
121 See, among others, Bukofzer, Studies in

111
By Edwards. 'Songs Without Words by
Josquin and his Contemporaries', p. 91.
112
For the repertory of the late fifteenth cen-
tury , the problem has recently been discussed at
length by Edwards. op. cit .. and by Litterick, 'On
Italian Instrumental Ensemble Music in the Late
Fifteenth Century'; see also Litterick, 'Performing
Franco-Netherlandish Secular Music of the Late
15th Century', pp. 482-83.
113
As already noted by Fuller, 'Additional
Notes on the 15th-century Chansonnier Bologna
Q 16', p. 89, n. 19, who also accepts the piece as
being for instruments.
114
The piece is not related to either of two
chansons by Busnois, ]e ne demande liaulte or ]e ne
demande autre a me degre.
Josquin in the Bologna copy of the Odhecaton
(removed in subsequent editions) and in the
manuscript Zwickau 78, which no doubt took its
attribution from Petrucci's print. (See Noble,
'Josquin Desprez; [work list]', The New Grove. IX.
736.)
"'The redaction in Bologna Q 16 seems to
contain at least a few scribal errors; these are
recorded in the Critical Notes.
Medieval and Renaissance Music. pp. 196ff;
Gombosi 's review of BukofZer in journal of the
American Musicological Society. IV (1955), 144-
45; Heartz, 'Hoftanz and Basse Dance', pp. 18-
19: Anthony Baines, Brass Instruments, p. 102.
Both Gombosi and Heartz note that Gulielmus's
setting is more properly classified as a saltarello
than a basse danse. on the ground that the tenor
moves in perfect breves (when the semibreves of
258 Index Index 259
Barcelona 1: 63n, 145 Rome 51: 127n
Naples, chapel at, 23-5 7 passim Palumbo, Aniello, 108
Berlin 78.C.28: 118- 19, 143, 148. 149-50 Rome 5170: 192n
compared to other chapels, ix, 32-33, 52- Pando. Tancredus de, 94
Bologna A 69: 82n Rome B.80: 127n
54 Panormita. see Beccadelli, Antonio
Bologna Q 16: 84- 85, 104, 120, 121-22, Seville 5-I-43/Paris 43 79: 76, 8ln, 120,
constitution of, 30, 39, 49, 53, 59 Pappacoda, Francisco, 73. 74
123, 128-30, 140, 148n, 152-53 122-23, 147, 148
development of, 23. 51-52 , 117 Pascale, 29, 94
Bologna 596 H.H.2•: 108. 124, 140, 151, Trent 88: 63n
liturgical books, 114-16 Passero, Giuliano, 99n
152 Trent 89: 76
liturgical music, 127-39 passim Patin, Luisot, 46, 56, 94
Cancionero general: 140n Valencia 835: 116
organ-building, 31. 42, 101 , 106, 136 Paumann, Conrad, 42n
Capetown 3.b.12: 138 Venice 9 CCIV: 236
recruiting, 31. 4 9, 60 Pere the Ceremonious, King of Aragon, 54
Chantilly 564: 109 Verona 755: 72
rosters, 29, 32, 46 Pere Joan, 17n
Dijon 517: 76 Washington L 25 (Laborde chansonnier):
salaries and payments, 24. 25-26, 30-31. Perez, Berthomeo, 31. 94
Escorial IV.a.24: 118- 19. 140, 141, 143. 76
36-37, 40, 64, 66-69, 100 Perez, Jaime, 36, 94
144--46, 148n Zwickau 78: 153
scribes, 11 7 Perez de Corella, Eximen, 67
Faenza 117: 79 , 81n, 124, 133-35 Margaret of Bavaria. Marchesa of Mantua,
singers and chaplains, inventory of, Pericho spagnolo, lOO
Florence 3: 144n 99n
87-97 Perleoni, Giuliano, 10
Florence 27: 147n Marino della Falcuni, 51. 94
size, 2 7, 33, 45. 55 Perot de Vertoya, 46 , 47, 94
Florence 121 : 147n Marot, Jord.i, 94
structure and function, 54-57 Perrinetto, 100
Florence 176: 76 Marra, Alexander de, 48, 49. 94
use of wind instruments. 13 6 Petrarch, 10
Florence 204: IOn Marrotta, Giorgio, 46, 94
visit to Florence, 34 Petruciis, Giannantonio de, 144
Florence 2356: 138 Marti, Guillaum, 23n
Naples, churches and monasteries Petrus de Pineda, 48, 95
Florence 2723: IOn Marti, Pere, 32, 94
Duomo, 37 Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, 32. 77
Foligno (MS without signature): 123, 124. Martini, Johannes, 58, 155
San Martino, 28n Picchart. Bernardo, see Ycart
148n Martino nigro, lOOn
San Pellegrino, 3 7 Piccolomini, Maria, of Aragon. Duchess of
London 10431: 140n Matteo di Capua. 32, 94
Santa Maria del Popolo, 84 Amalfi, 21
Milan 1, 2, 3, 4: 127n Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, 4, 47,
Santa Maria della Pace, 13 Pietro da Gaeta, 107
Milan 3 5 C sup: 144n 71, 76 , 149
Santa Maria in Romania, 3 7 Pietro da Milano, 17
Milan S.P.II.5: 145n Matto, Nichollo, 74
Santa Maria Incoronata, 28 Pietro d'Aiemagna, 107-108
Modena a.M.l.2: 127n Maximilian I. Holy Roman Emperor, 135
Santa Maria Maddalena, lOln Pietrobono de Burzellis, 108-109
Modena a.M.l.13: 127n Mazzoni, Guido, 21-22
Sant'Anna dei Lombardi (Monteoliveto), 20- Pinia, Salvatore, 46, 9 5
Modena XI.B.lO: 140n Medici, Giovanni de' , see Leo X, Pope
21, 48 Pisanello, 15, 17,21
Modena AS: 127n Medici. Lorenzo de', ix, 4, 10, 37, 38, 40, 44,
SS Annunziata, 80n Pius II, Pope, 8
Montecassino 871: 62, 79. 82, 107, 118n, 53-54, 70. 107, 113, 117
SS Severino e Sossio, 16, 120 Poggioreale, music at, 20, 102
120-21, 123, 133, 136-39, 140, 141, Medici, Piero di Cosimo de', ix, 85
Naples, secular music at, 98-113, 140-54 Poliziano, Agnolo, 10
147-50 passim, 155 Melaguli, Pantaleone, 76, 77. 80, 82
alta cappella, 110-11, 13 6 Pont, Antoni, 32, 45, 95
Munich 352b: 43n Menaro, Menichello, 113
chamber music, 105-109, 152-53 Pontano, Giovanni, 7, 8. 10-1 1. 16, 49. 109
Naples VI.E.40: 112, 116, 128 Meo, Giorgio, 100
dance, 102-104, 153-54 Ponzo, Antonio, 40-41 , 44, 52, 95, 138
Naples Xll.F.50: 77n Michele tedesco, 56, 110-11
harpists, 107-108 Porcello, Felippo, 95
Naples XIV.D.20: 77n Michelozzi, Niccolo, 85
improvisation, 83, 102 Prats, Luis, 47, 48, 95
Naples XXI.C.22: 105n Michiel, Marcantonio, 11
lutenists, 108 Prebostel. Perrinet, see Torsel, Perinetto
Naples CF.II1.4: 63n Milan. 2, 32, 40-41, 52, 58, 67, 68, lOin,
minstrels, 109-10 Prioris, Johannes, 84, 153
Naples SM.XXVIII.4.22: 105n 155
processions, 98-99 Pronostrau, Perrinet. see Torsel, Perinetto
New Haven 91 (Mellon chansonnier): 62, Mino da Fiesole, 17n
song repertory, 39, 101, 102, 140-52 Puig, Pere, 108
70, 71, 76, 111 , 116, 118n, 119-20, Miraballs, Jo. Franc., 48
theater, 104 Pulci, Luigi, 10
128, 130, 140, 148, 149, 151 Miro Benet, 32, 94
trumpeters, 98, 99-100 Pullois, Jehan, 84, 153
Oxford 213: 153 Molinet, Jean, 71
women musicians, 105-106
Paris 476: 134n Montefeltro, Federigo, Duke of Urbino, 67
Nardello de Composta, 35, 94 Raba'<a, Joanet, 32, 95
Paris 676: 147n Mora, Pietro de, 23n
Navarro, Luis, 32, 94 Rabicano, Cola, 115,116
Paris 1035: 10, 147 Morton, Robert, 58, 8ln, 128, 130
Nicola de Rinaldo , 34. 94 Rafaele genovese, 100
Paris 1069: 103n Mossen Borra. see Tallender, Antoni
Raganello, lOO
Paris 15123 (Pixerecourt chansonnier): 79, Muzi, Piero di Mariano, 144
Obrecht, Jacob, 49, 60, 67 Raynero. 40-41. 52, 95, 131
117 Ockeghem, Johannes, 58, 155 Recellani, Angelo, 34, 95
Paris 16664: 144n, 146 Nacci, Francesco, 44
Oiler, Joan. 42 Regades, Pere. 32, 95
Parma 1158: 8ln Nadal. Miguel, 24, 25, 26, 66, 94
Orbo, Johannes, 43n Rembert, Nicolaus, 71, 74
Perugia 431: 59n, 60, 62, 80. 83, 104, Naples, Kingdom of, 64-65
Order of the Golden Fleece, 73, 77 Rene of Anjou, 1, 2, 12
120-24 passim, 128, 131-33, 136-39, art and architecture, 11-22, 31, 33-34,
Oriola, Juan, 43n, 6ln Rigo de Borgogna, 101
140, 143, 147-48, 151. 153-54, 155 116
Oriola, Pere, 24-29 passim, 33 , 35, 60-62 , Risis, Esremus de, 48, 49, 95
Pesaro 1144: 108, 124, 151 bishoprics, 2 8
94, 126, 133. 139, 143, 155 Robert of Anjou, the Wise. King of Sicily, 11
Petrucci 1506': 79. 127n currency, x
Orosco, Joan, 104. 106 Roberto, Francesco, 35, 95
Prague D.G.IV.47: 63n. 76n education, 7. 54, 77, 83, 111-13
Orto, Marbrianus de, 58 Rocha, Antonius, 48. 49, 95
Rome 14: 12 7n literature and humanism, 6-11
Ospato, Baldassare, 46, 94 Rodolfo, 26, 27n
Rome 35: 128n politics, 1-6, 51-52
Otranto. Battle of, 4, 130 Rogeriis, Carlo de, 108